Our Tree
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“What do you want the logo to look like?” I asked Chris Piper, back in in 2009.
“I see a willow tree. With a yellow ribbon. Because the willow blows and moves in the wind, yet stays rooted in what it is,” she said. I sat down, inspired, and began to draw. Which I had never known myself to do—feel free enough to draw something from my head. Without expectation. Without fear. I gave the tree the shape of a woman. What I imagined my shape to be. Standing with stubborn desires to just be. It was when I knew Her War, Her Voice would be different. And that Chris P. and I had begun to build something amazing. Just in those few words. All of it embodied in one image. |
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We didn’t have a website yet. We only had a dream. It was her husband—the very one she has loved for so very long—who built it for us. We were homegrown. Grassroots. Founded in friendship and the desire to break free of all the chaos war had pushed upon us. He took my drawing, and he created a website and a digital tree.
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Through the years, we moved from a blog, to a Facebook page of support, to partnering with Courage Beyond, to leading holistic retreats and in-person groups.
That tree became a symbol for hope and for exploration of self. It became the roots of something that was so much bigger than me. Or Chris P.
When it was time for us to pull more people on to our team and to look at how we could change the trajectory of our community—how we can begin to heal our wounds—I began to realize we were no longer a lone tree. We were a community.
When it was time for Chris P. to move on, I began pursuing a website that will change everything. While still maintaining the core belief in speaking. And standing.
Only now…..we stand as a team.
But that original tree had the roots to evolve and change.
That tree became a symbol for hope and for exploration of self. It became the roots of something that was so much bigger than me. Or Chris P.
When it was time for us to pull more people on to our team and to look at how we could change the trajectory of our community—how we can begin to heal our wounds—I began to realize we were no longer a lone tree. We were a community.
When it was time for Chris P. to move on, I began pursuing a website that will change everything. While still maintaining the core belief in speaking. And standing.
Only now…..we stand as a team.
But that original tree had the roots to evolve and change.
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I went to a very dear friend, Vicki, and asked her if she would work with us to change the scope of HWHV and to make my vision of a community on a website come to life.
“I see a grove of trees. HWHV gave us all roots to expand, and now, there is a forest of unique trees. They aren’t really willows any more. They are different. But they all flow from the same root system.” |
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Her vision brought tears to my eyes. It has become the vision of our new website. And it, once again, came from two military spouses talking. And artwork becoming our vehicle of communication.
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When we began to discuss logos, another military spouse who works with Courage Beyond, Chris C., came on board and began to discuss trees and movement and how she sees Vicki’s vision of community and artwork as movement toward something so much bigger. Perhaps the logo could stand some movement. A turn of direction.
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Again, I went back to my drawings. I had done a painting like that! I have always loved the idea of HWHV being women and community and connection to life and movement. I still wanted her in the tree. I still wanted me in the tree. But the stoic stance of the original willow didn’t feel like where I was any more. I was literally in the tree. Moving WITH it.
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She took the idea of dancing in a tree—she took my sketch—and she began to make a new logo for HWHV to come alive. Her process and movement through each piece was quite inspiring and breathtaking. Two spouses who had little contact before were now talking art, movement, and the mission of HWHV. Not to mention, Vicki’s concept of a tree saying so much.
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Chris C. began to create:
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The evolution of HWHV and the tree and the concept began to speak through and to three military spouses, and I could not have been happier. Or more humbled.
We began discussing one specific tree that spoke to anyone who witnessed it on the first Courage Beyond/HWHV retreat. It was a tree that was growing and expanding its roots—seemingly dead—back toward the very tree sustaining it. It was stoic. It was determined. It was twisted and worn, yet, still alive. It also happened to be the artwork of another wonderful military spouse, Angela, who is a photographer. So, we drew upon her work and her ability to evoke.
We began discussing one specific tree that spoke to anyone who witnessed it on the first Courage Beyond/HWHV retreat. It was a tree that was growing and expanding its roots—seemingly dead—back toward the very tree sustaining it. It was stoic. It was determined. It was twisted and worn, yet, still alive. It also happened to be the artwork of another wonderful military spouse, Angela, who is a photographer. So, we drew upon her work and her ability to evoke.
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From here, we began to discuss the yellow ribbon. How it is identified with those of us who wait while someone is at war. Hopefully, our waiting for wars to be over is coming to a close. Hopefully, we will know peace and we will be able to let that ribbon untie and begin to release all that has been there. This, for me, is the symbol of a woman deciding she is ready to see what happens next. For me, that is what HWHV needs to be and what we will all need in the future. A place that understands where we have been, and where we hope to go. So, we began to pull the ribbon from her waist.
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All of us, to include Jenny with Courage Beyond, needed our movement for HWHV to pay firm respect to that original vision between me and Chris P. To remember where we have been, while opening the door to something bigger. I want a place to remember that we are in a cycle of life and that we can always choose. We can choose what we do next and the sky is the limit.
With the vision of Vicki at the helm, our website is going to be one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. I can’t wait for you all to see what she has planned and how she and Chris C. will visually take you on a journey of movement and possibility for our military community.
Until then, I give to you the new HWHV logo. One that was built originally by two military spouses, and is now rebuilt by three. I would have it no other way.
With the vision of Vicki at the helm, our website is going to be one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. I can’t wait for you all to see what she has planned and how she and Chris C. will visually take you on a journey of movement and possibility for our military community.
Until then, I give to you the new HWHV logo. One that was built originally by two military spouses, and is now rebuilt by three. I would have it no other way.
